Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2

by Brian Wilkerson

  “Abandoning your student is one more way in which you are inferior to Dengel,” Asuna declared. “My master once fought an army, single-handedly, in order to rescue me from a vile human dissector. I thought it to be impossible, but he found a way! You lack the same self-confidence!”

  “Excuse me while I put this thing back.”

  Once he left her presence, the darkness around Zettai felt oppressive. Soon she’d have to go back to petty theft and dodging secret police. She shook her head again.

  There was no way she was going back to that life. She’d rather die in that Fog cloud, fighting monsters and learning magic, than risk going back to jail. Just thinking about it made her shiver. Because of her petite stature, the warden called her “doll” and treated her like one. There was no way she could face that again, but where would she go?

  One thing was certain; she couldn’t stay here. She evaded the secret police for weeks because she didn’t stay in one place. She couldn’t live here, so it was time to move on. She made her plans over dinner (no sense passing up free food) and while the others prepared for sleep, she prepared for travel. When Basilard and Sias left the camp, supposedly to look for Eric, she left for the edge of the cliff. She stealthily retrieved her climbing gear, and was at the cliff’s edge when a ball of light hovered over her like a spotlight.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” a voice behind her demanded.

  “I’m innocent! Please don’t arrest me!”

  “Arrest you? Zettai, turn around.”

  It was Nolien. His arms were crossed, but his eyes and smile were warm. A second light hovered above his own head.

  “Oh…Ah…It’s time for me to leave.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’ll…find some place.”

  “What is your plan?”

  “I don’t know!” She started crying. “I can’t stay here and I can’t stay in the freak village, so I have to keep moving…”

  Nolien smiled sadly and said, “How can the dead move on their own?”

  “Wh-what?”

  “You were executed over two weeks ago. I can induce a death-like state in your body for a little while and make up some story about Dakol giving me your body for study.”

  Zettai’s smile was charged with so much hope, it melted Nolien’s heart.

  “Really?”

  “It’s against the Griffocratic Oath to medically do harm to anyone, but you’re legally dead. In other words, yes, I can do it.”

  She ran to him, hugged him, nuzzled him, and thanked him. He patted her head, demurred her praise, and raised his barrier to deflect fire and blindness spells that came from the left and right. Pushing Zettai to the ground, he spun to intercept an ax as it smashed through his barrier. His staff was infused with his spirit and so it didn’t break on the weapon’s blade. Stepping forward with his left foot, he pushed the blade aside and back fisted his assailant’s cheek with his left hand. She stepped back from the force and then jumped back while her accomplices fired more spells.

  Nolien blocked them both and said, “Who are you?”

  His first Illumination Orb revealed a teenage girl with hair like dirt. His second darted to the left to show a boy with orange hair and a white staff. He generated a third and directed it to the right to find a purple-haired boy with a black staff. All three of them had blood-red eyes.

  “Are you with the Crimson Killer?”

  “Thanks for leaving the group, Healer,” the girl said. “Our father wants to meet your girl.”

  Nolien calmly set his stance and his killing intent made Zettai pee her pants.

  “I'm not a healer; I'm a mercenary.”

  At another end of the plateau, Sias dragged Basilard away from the camp. She smiled bewitchingly under the Illumination Orb while fingering her long, pink hair. All at once, two curses came at him from opposing directions and Sias tried to shank him. Basilard’s barrier stopped them cold.

  He snapped his fingers once to cast three spells. The first two were more illumination orbs that tracked the casters of the spells and the third was a Dispel directed at “Sias.” Two teenagers to either side of him came under the light, and coils of light streamed off the false Sias, revealing her true identity. The imposter was younger, broader, and had dark brown hair instead of pale pink. She looked Basilard in the eyes and said, “Hello, Daylra. Did you miss me?”

  Basilard paled more than usual. “...No...” he whispered. He snapped again and again and even recited the full incantation, but there were no more spells to break. “You're dead...Death confirmed it....you crossed over...How can you be here!?”

  “I was brought back from beyond the grave by a more worthy mentor. He has achieved what all of you never dared.”

  “All of us were revived,” said the first mage, a boy with purple hair and a black staff.

  “You abandoned us,” said the second mage, a boy with orange hair and a white staff.

  The girl jumped away from Basilard and the mages flanked her. The Illumination Orbs shined over all three to give no doubt of their identity.

  “Allow us to introduce ourselves. Sosuke Lokhin, twenty years old, Squad One regular in the Dragon’s Lair and the first ever trained by Basilard Bladi. I died because he failed to save me.”

  “Haru Tera, twenty-one years old, Squad Three regular in the Dragon's Lair and the first ever trained by Basilard Bladi. I died because he failed to save me.”

  “Kazuma Junao, nineteen years old, Squad Two regular in the Dragon's Lair and the first ever trained by Basilard Bladi. I died because he failed to save me.”

  Basilard stepped back, mouth open and wide-eyed. BloodDrinker slipped from his grasp.

  “...You can't be here...I destroyed it...Gone...How did he...?”

  “Just as Father said; you are so weak that a reminder of your failure can break your mind.”

  “You do not deserve BloodDrinker.”

  “You do not deserve Bladi blood.”

  “You do not deserve your life!”

  Back at the camp, Haburt received a message. He had been trading messages with this caller since his arrival in this country, and this one was the second he received today. The first arrived some hours earlier and said “The plan is set. Your order is waiting.” The second said, “Prepare the payment.” Moments later, three teenage warriors stepped into the campfire light. With a heavy heart, he grabbed his staff, checked that his chloroform was easily accessible, and approached Tiza’s tent.

  Inside, Tiza was alone and curled up. Slowly and carefully, the trio approached the pretty young girl. She was so vulnerable in her sleep. With utmost gentleness, they pinned her down and muffled her voice with the drugged cloth. As expected, she thrashed, but they kept her still and quiet until their gift took effect. When her heartbeat decreased and she stopped moving, they kept the rag in place for a full minute longer to make sure. Haburt was assigned to warn them if anyone approached. One pulled out a pair of handcuffs and a pair of ankle chains while the other held her wrists and feet together.

  At the cliff edge, Nolien appraised his attackers and formed a plan of attack. Based on their formation, they were Dragon’s Lair like himself. Based on their eyes, they were related to the Bladi clan. Now to make use of that information…

  Kazuma raised his healer staff and recited, “Blessing of Chaos: Monster’s Strength!”

  Haru raised his battle mage staff and recited, “Fire’s might, shine bright! Flamberge!”

  Sosuke’s body flashed red light and the blade of her ax gleamed with fire. She went back on the offensive with a right-hand slash.

  “Sleep!” Nolien cast.

  “Awareness!” His counterpart countered.

  The two spells negated and Sosuke followed through with her attack unhindered. Nolien sidestepped and struck at her throat while Zettai crawled away under the cover of darkness. Sosuke stepped back again and Nolien bowled her over with a front kick to the stomach. Two streams of mana bolts came at him from h
er mage teammates, but he blocked them both with his barrier. It took surprisingly little effort to do this. He could even weaken the barrier slightly in order to dismiss Sosuke’s buffs. Then their battle continued.

  Zettai crawled towards Kazuma by using Nolien’s Illumination Orb as a guide. It was too bright for the enemy healer to negate with a dark bolt despite his many attempts. This allowed Zettai to reach the border of the orb’s effect and tackle him to the ground. Before he could bring his staff against her, she smashed a rock she found onto his temple. She did this until his skull caved, and then a couple more times, just to be sure. Then she grabbed his staff and jogged to the second mage.

  All three of the others had taken notice of her by now, but Sosuke was busy with Nolien, so only Haru engaged her. He fired a stream of mana bolts at her with one hand and used the other to fire a full ice spell at Nolien’s feet. Zettai held the staff out in front of herself, hoping it would block the attack, but it didn’t, and she was pelted all over by the bolts. Nolien avoided the ice and pressed his attack on Sosuke, finally incapacitating her by knocking the wind from her and then stunning her with a blow to the side of her head. Without Kazuma, she was soon in dreamless and magical sleep.

  Haru glanced from his fallen comrades to his enemies and lunged for the weaker of the two. A wall of mana bolts rushed ahead of him and reached Zettai first. They surrounded her like a force field. He skidded to a halt just in time to be beaten black and blue by them. Zettai grabbed his staff too.

  “Normally, I’d scold you for touching a mage’s staff, but since you don’t know any better, I’ll let it slide this time.”

  He pulled out a dagger and plunged it through the hearts and throats of Haru and Sosuke.

  “Normally, I wouldn’t do this either, but I can’t have them attacking myself or my team again.” He cleaned the blade and re-sheathed it. “Come on; the others are in trouble.”

  “R-right!”

  At the other end of the plateau, Basilard was fighting a defensive battle. The reflexes of a lifetime refused to let him be killed, but his memories refused to let him raise his hand in violence against his former students. He dodged spells, blocked blades, and avoided traps, but did not counterattack. However, his mind was still processing the state of events.

  These three claimed to have been resurrected, but Death himself confirmed their crossing. He refused to allow such a thing as revival, not even when Basilard beat him in a drinking match. Thus, they had to be fakes and only a handful of people could do such a thing. One of them was his exiled uncle who practiced the forbidden arts. If his uncle was here, then he had one goal: reclaiming BloodDrinker. If he was using emotional blackmail to keep him busy, then he would use the same to accomplish his goal. All at once, his expression changed from fear and guilt to remorseless resolve. He drew BloodDrinker and made three swift cuts, one in each attacker. Then he raised it high and said, “Drink your fill.”

  The sword pulsed and absorbed all three simultaneously. It only took a moment to reduce them to clothed skeletons.

  Back at the camp, Tiza was about to become a hostage. Then, just as Sosuke set the cuffs around Tiza’s hands, two mana bolts generated from them and blew her and Kazuma away. Two more at her feet did the same to Haru, who was holding them together. They had the force of goat kicks and knocked the wind out of all three of them. Tiza grabbed two daggers from under her pillow and stabbed Sosuke in the chest. Then she mana bolted the boys again as they recovered and fell on them in turn.

  She walked out of the tent with her sword on her back, her gauntlets on her arms, and one ring on each hand. There was dagger in one and the handcuffs in the other. Haburt fired a man bolt at her feet powerful enough to crater the ground. It sent shrapnel flying and cut her dress (it quickly repaired itself to perfect condition).

  “Why are you still conscious? The chloroform should have put you under for hours!”

  “I’m immune to it.”

  “How could you be immune to chloroform?”

  “Are you kidding? That was the first thing Spider Daylra made me immune to.”

  “Did she make you immune to this? Wind Vault!”

  Winds picked up all around Tiza and began solidifying into walls. She ran towards Haburt and the wind followed her, still solidifying. She cocked a punch, only to hit a wall made of nothing.

  “No!”

  She pounded on the barrier between her and Haburt.

  “Let me out!”

  She punched and kicked, but all she accomplished was making her hands and feet sting and her wrists sore. She sword-slashed and mana bolted, but only wasted energy.

  Memories flooded her consciousness; wind closing in, a woman shouting for her, and three men fighting. Haburt carrying her to a prison somewhere and another woman smiling and forcing something down her throat. “How are you feeling today, Vaya dear?”

  “AHHHHH!”

  Videlicet Mens activated and she resumed battering the walls of her cage. Every inch of her flared blue light as she put every ounce of her power into escaping. Haburt held it firm. As a greater mage, he was leagues ahead of her in spiritual power. Escape was impossible. Eventually, the aura faded and Tiza sank to her knees. Dropping her sword, she breathed heavily and hugged herself.

  “You must think me a monster for this, but it’s the only way to reunite with my daughter.”

  “S-spare me…the shit… asshole.”

  Tiza pushed a button on her hilt and the bottom dropped out. Along with it was a tiny vial of Mana Juice. She unscrewed the top and threw back the contents in one shot.

  “You don’t care about anyone but yourself. I've had nightmares about this spell for years and I couldn’t tell if it was a memory or not. I was terrified of you without knowing why. I suppose I should thank you for trying a second time. Now I can conquer my fear.”

  Haburt gulped. He told himself it was impossible. She was a novice fighter. Nothing she had could possibly overcome a greater mage’s spell. Tiza stood up and smirked. It was impossible, but a sinking feeling in his gut told him otherwise.

  Tiza clenched her right fist and then extended her middle finger to show off the tiger’s eye ring.

  “Hard as stone, every bone: Earth Empowerment!”

  Brown light shined from her eyes and her skin. She picked up her sword and the brown light spread to the tip of its blade. Her soul was now putting out earth-tinged mana, thus making her an earth-aligned creature. Her sword was now the perfect key for a cage made of wind.

  She clenched her left fist and then extended her middle finger to show off the pale sapphire.

  “Be gone air, I will not despair: Wind Banishment!”

  Soft blue light flashed and the Wind Vault waned. The walls were now thinner and the winds themselves weaker.

  She took a breath and thrust her sword through the wind wall. Haburt pushed back, but little by little, the blade penetrated until it emerged on the other side. With a wordless cry, Tiza slashed upwards. She stepped through the gap and pointed her sword at Haburt. Her killing intent made his knees weak.

  “I am still a greater mage! My spirit can repel anything a fighter of your caliber can muster and my mana bolts can surely break your barrier. Surrender or my next spell will kill you!”

  “How about you surrender or Basilard makes your blood boil in your veins.”

  “Impossible! My associate set up the perfect trap! There’s no way any of your allies are alive, including the crazy earth lady!”

  Tiza sneered with glorious bloodlust.

  “Don’t you get it? There is only one way this night will end without you as a splatter on the ground. I was trained by a veteran of black ops; you’re a professional bookworm. I’m sure I can stay away from you until you run out of mana. Then you’ll be helpless. All I need to do is land one clean hit and then you’re part of the history you’ve got a hard-on for. Now, if you surrender, you have a much higher chance of seeing the sunrise.”

  If he did that, then his chances of
success plummeted. The best course of action was to trust Mr.15’s plan and attack. Haburt carefully charged a mana bolt strong enough to incapacitate her and then his staff arm fell limp to his side.

  “What in the name of Fire…”

  His legs folded underneath him and his staff fell from his numb hand. It rolled away and out of reach. Two spiders descended from his body, crossed the battlefield, crawled up Tiza’s legs and then disappeared somewhere.

  “I should have known,” he muttered. “The Spider is called such for a reason.”

  “Yup,” Tiza said gleefully. “As the Spider’s student, I know a few things myself.”

  With the handcuffs meant for herself, she restrained the paralyzed professor. Then, just for fun, she gagged him with his hat. She scanned the area with Third Eye, determined that her teammates and Sias were safe, and decided make use of the time before they arrived. She placed her sword against Haburt’s neck.

  “You're the reason I have amnesia. You’re the reason I lived on the street before joining the Dragon’s Lair. You’re the reason I don't know my parents. I should kill you for any one of these. Give me one reason why I shouldn't.”

  Haburt spat out his hat. It landed at Tiza’s feet. “I can tell you who your parents are.”

  “…I'm listening.”

  “Look behind my left ear and you’ll see a red-black bite. Your mother gave it to me years ago. It’s the reason I’m deaf in that ear.”

  “Y-you…you mean…”

  “Yes, Sathel Aranid is your mother and Retina Corison is your father.”

  Inside her head, metaphoric gears clicked into place. “Of course...Spider Daylra's training focused on resisting capture. Third Eye is unique to Daylra's Dear because of mana mutation…” She stumbled backward. “She's smothering and he can't stand Tenderfoot. Wow…” She got weak in the knees and sat down on a rock. “...my real parents are cooler than the ones I imagined...”

  When her teammates and Sias returned, she was still in a happy stupor. Nolien and Zettai assumed it was from putting the professor in his place. Basilard thought differently, but held his peace.